> The higher-end ones advertise Linux support, too. Running Debian on 32MB
> is a bit cramped but if you're careful it works fine --- I used Debian
> on an NSLU2 for years. But I had swap. A cut-down distro like SlugOS or
> OpenWRT is probably better for your purposes.
I've had an NSLU2 for years that is running Debian fine (although I do
have swap enabled). Given that device it 6+ years old, I was hoping
that equivalent functionality would have since been consolidated into
cheaper, minimal chip count solution. Perhaps something that could be
manufactured in mass quantities for less than $5 -- not the retail
cost. I'm very familiar with Atmel's 8-bit chips, but know almost
nothing about their more capable ARM and other 32-bit solutions. I'll
take a look and see what I can find.
I'll also follow up on Peter's suggestion of an IMX233 olinuxino
micro, RAM and microSD slot. Given a 1GB micro SD card can be had a
for a few bucks retail and is removable, that is an appealing solution
for the flash side of things.
I would like to use Debian just for ease of development and
prototyping because it's what I know best. If one were to create a
custom, minimal kernel, does a distro like SlugOS or OpenWRT offer
advantages? I would assume their packages are meant to minimize
RAM/Flash resources.
Mike